While promoting his new flick Julieta, the iconic Spanish director told The Empire Film Podcast that he was originally set to direct the 2005 film. Not only that, had he taken the job, it would have differed significantly from Ang Lee‘s vision.

“It’s not gratuitous,” he added. “The Annie Proulx story is about a physical relation, an animal relation. So sex is necessary because it is the body of the story. So I always have the image that these two guys start making love to each other like the animals that they were taking care of. I mean, against the cold in the mountains, yes, a way to survive in the mountains.”